Why it works: Maple syrup and cream work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 607 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Maple Ice
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks into the cold maple syrup.
Heat the mixture to boiling point while stirring constantly, then let it cool.
Add the cream and freeze
Whip the cream and add it to the syrup when it is perfectly cold.
Pack the mixture in ice and salt for 7 to 8 hours.
If the cream does not whip, use the syrup and egg mixture to make a plain maple cream and freeze.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together607 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Maple syrup + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Maple syrup
- Provides the sweetness and the main maple flavor of the ice cream.
- Egg yolks
- Emulsify the mixture and, once heated, thicken it to give a smooth, rich custard.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat and body, and whipping it lightens the texture of the frozen dessert.
The step that matters
Heating the egg yolk and syrup mixture. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the mixture overheats or is not stirred constantly, the yolks can scramble and turn grainy. Stirring keeps the heat even so the custard thickens smoothly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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